Career
He was a professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, Presidency College, Madras, a Telugu translator to government, and a curator in the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library. He was a professor in Madras from 1872 to 1893. He was also editor of the Madras Journal of Literature and Science from 1878 to 1882.
After traveling in north India from 1893 to 1894, he returned to Europe in 1894.
In "On the original inhabitants of the Bharatavarsha of India (1893), Oppert uses extensive philological research to connect the now-scattered original inhabitants of India, the Dravidians. Among popular Dravidians, Oppert counts Thiru Valluvar, the famous author of the Thirukkural and Avvaiyar the Tamil poet saint.